Welcome to Friary Diary issue 113 - a monthly round up of news about the Friary Brass Band.
INFORMAL SUMMER CONCERT:
Friary’s recent informal midweek summer concert at its rehearsal venue, Chertsey Hall, attracted a new audience from the local area on a warm evening. Yet what the audience lacked in numbers was more than outweighed by their enthusiasm.
The varied programme ranged from Astor Piazzola’s Oblivion to Lionel Ritchie’s All Night Long, with a Harry Potter medley, a couple of circus marches, Rockall from the Band’s Brass in Concert set, and Bach’s Toccata in D minor amongst others thrown in for good measure.
Many of the concert-goers were delighted at Friary being based in Chertsey, one asking if she could sneak in now and then to listen to a rehearsal! Chairman David Wicks was delighted: ‘I can’t deny we would have liked a few more in the audience, but with the Olympics in full swing, and an evening ideally suited for a barbecue, we did well to attract as many as there were. Our aim was to promote the Band in our new rehearsal locality, and that’s exactly what we achieved, with most of the audience very keen to know about our next few concerts ’ he concluded.
FORTHCOMING CONCERT - BOOKHAM:
Our next engagement is a return to St Nicolas Church, Bookham on Saturday 14th September. This year’s concert will include Broadway show and film music. Please book as soon as possible for this as last year’s event sold out well in advance. Tickets are available from Nick Garrett on 01372 or please visit https://www.tickettailor.com
And by the way, if you happen to know someone who thinks all brass band music is the same, then why not bring them along too. After last year’s concert at the church, we had a wonderful comment from a first time audience member which went along the lines of: ‘I didn’t want to go, my wife dragged me along. I didn’t want to listen to a load of oompah music. But from the very first note I was on the edge of my seat. I had no idea what a range of music a band could play. Absolutely fantastic, it certainly won’t be my last brass band concert.’
BRITISH BANDSMAN CONCERT:
And talking of concerts, tickets for our British Bandsman series concert at Reading Town Hall on Saturday 19th October at 2.00pm are now on sale. We are delighted to be part of this prestigious concert programme so please support us. Please visit whatsonreading.com to book your tickets (£17.50; under 18s £6).
PUBLIC BENEFIT:
As a registered charity, Friary needs to demonstrate public benefit, and much of this derives from our concerts and other engagements which help to keep the heritage of brass band music in the public eye. But I’ve also recently presented an hour’s programme of brass band music to some of the residents at the nursing home where my elderly aunt has lived for several years. It’s something I did a few times before Covid got in the way, and so I was delighted to be invited back.
I thought a theme would make the programme more cohesive, so we had ‘An Armchair Tour of the British Isles’, with music inspired by England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. This included a virtual pub stop at The Bells of Peover, a track on Friary’s Momentum CD. The track takes its title from a pub in Cheshire, which, previously unbeknown to me, was actually renamed after the Bell family who ran it for many years. Every day’s a school day!
I’ve been invited back next month to run another session, this time along the theme of ‘A Night at the Proms’, to align with the nursing home’s weekly activity programme. As well as traditional Last Night favourites, I’m thinking of including Friary’s recording of Autumn Leaves – not usual Proms fare I know, but with the National Championships being held at The Royal Albert Hall each October, I reckon there’s a connection!
RANKING NEWS:
As at 1st August, in the www.brassstats.com table, Friary remains at 23rd in the world. There is still no update since April from 4barsrest.com
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